Magnetic North
by Medie
Summary: Thoughts on Zack, Logan, and Max from another X5


Acknowledgements: Thanks Azar for de title and getting me on this fic.  
Warnings: OFC! And written kinda in the 1st person (which I rarely do. ) And I do mess   
around a little with a tiny plot point or two. *G* (nothing serious!)  
Disclaimer: Dark Angel and all its characters and concepts aren't mine but Cory is. *G*  
Summary: Another of the kids comes out of the woodwork only this one is definitely not Zack or  
Brin (or is it Bryn. Oy). She's kinda a mix of Max and Zack. Scary no?  
  
Be gentle guys, this be my *first* DA fic. *G*   
  
**********   
Seattle. Nice place but wet. I hate wet. So much so that I prefer sticking to the nice dryer sections of this so-called country.   
So what am I doing here?   
  
Oh a couple of reasons. Two big reasons mainly.   
  
One...some guy up here is poking into my background. I don't like that. I can't afford that. Low  
profile is my motto. Low profile means Lydecker and his Manticore cronies can't find me. They  
did once and I ended up with a criminal record for that. Well, the record of my arrest anyway.   
For assault.   
  
That record is what this guy, Logan Cale, has been using to try and find me. Why he's trying, I   
don't know yet but I'm going to find out. One way...or the other.   
  
What's reason two?   
  
Zack, our fearless so-called leader, showed up at my place in California. He'd found Max. She's  
here in Seattle. I get the idea he's known that for a while he just didn't feel like telling me. But   
what else is new? Zack and me, well we've always had our differences.   
  
Okay, I guess I've confused you horribly, huh?   
  
Backstory time.   
  
For starters, my name's Cory. Just Cory for now. Last names don't mean much to me. Anyway, my  
name's Cory and I'm your everyday, run-of-the-mill killing machine. Yep, you heard me. Killing   
machine.   
  
Remember that guy I mentioned, no not Cale--Lydecker. He and the Manticore Project are the   
reason I exist. Me and a bunch of other kids, including us escapees. See, a few decades back,   
some guys in the government decided to create the perfect assassin/soldier. Thus the Manticore   
Project was born. They got a bunch of eggheads together and those guys designed our DNA.   
Designed us to be killers--you don't wanna know what they did to our biological makeup. Then a  
bunch of women were impregnated with us and voila, nine months later they had a crop of baby   
soldiers ready to be trained. And indoctrinated. In short, they tried to turn us into little assassins.  
  
Problem is, we didn't want to be assassins. We wanted to be kids. So a few of us older ones, like  
me and Zack, got together and planned an escape. Don't roll your eyes, we were engineered to be  
the perfect soldiers, remember? That meant strategy too. We didn't ask all of the kids to come.   
We knew there were some that wouldn't even think of it. So it ended up being just us twelve.   
  
And the miracle of it was, we pulled it off. I have my suspicions though; I think someone on the  
inside helped. I mean we're good but there were a hell of a lot of soldiers there that night.   
  
I'm rambling. Back to topic time. Which was us kids.   
  
We went our separate ways that night and most of us haven't seen each other since.   
  
Zack and I've kept tabs on some of them. Between the two of us, I think we've kept most of them  
out of harm's way. For years, I thought Max was one of the ones we couldn't find. I think I was   
wrong. Something about the way Zack talked about her. He knew all along. But then, I think he   
also thought that if *I* knew where she was I'd forget about my responsibilities to the other kids  
and focus on her. We were pretty close as kids. He's wrong of course, but hey, even Zack doesn't  
know everything.   
  
Y'know, I think he's at his wit's end with her. Max. That's why he told me. He thinks that, since I   
think like Max, I can keep her under control. Yeah right. Like that's humanly possibly. You'd think  
he'd know though. If she thinks like me then he should get it. He can't control me so why could I   
control her?   
  
Oh, that thought puts a grin on my face. Poor Zack, he never did get it. You see, he's stuck to what  
they taught us. Used it against them. He'd make the perfect soldier, really lives up to his training.  
Whereas me, I tend to go with the flow. Do whatever it takes and a lot of my methods are definitely  
*not* what Lydecker taught us. From the way he talks, I think Zack realizes she's like that too. She  
always was. Even when we were still at Manticore it was easy to see that. Max did what Max  
wanted. Within reason, of course. We were all like that. Too scared of them to even think about  
stepping too far out of line.   
  
Things change. We're not afraid anymore and by the sound of things, Max's been taking too many  
chances. Risking her little neck to go against Lydecker. Gotta love that girl.   
  
Anyway, that tidbit of news, combined with this little problem I have with that guy Logan, is why  
I'm here. In Seattle. Wet.   
  
Ugh, I am *totally* going to get my cute little butt back to California the first chance I get.   
  
Yeah, deal with this Cale guy and visit with Max then get the hell outta Dodge...er, Seattle.   
  
What? I'm serious. She may be the one kid I wanted to find the most but I am *not* sticking  
around this rainy corner of the very wonderful post-Pulse US of A. Really.   
  
Okay, maybe not. Man, I am *such* a softie. Oh well, Max'd better have an umbrella.   
  
finis. 


End file.
